{"id":1439,"date":"2008-11-19T10:24:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-19T10:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-just-looked-around-we-were-in-shock.html"},"modified":"2008-11-19T10:24:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-19T10:24:00","slug":"we-just-looked-around-we-were-in-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-just-looked-around-we-were-in-shock.html","title":{"rendered":"“We just looked around. We were in shock.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>One of the treasures lost to the California fires was a Benedictine monastery. And the New York Times this morning sizes up the aftermath<\/a>: <\/p>\n

On Tuesday the monks met with their insurance agent.<\/p>\n

Like thousands of other residents of Southern California, the seven Benedictine Anglican monks who lived at Mount Calvary Monastery and Retreat House, on a breathtaking ridge 1,250 feet above the Pacific in Montecito, were coming to terms with what they had lost in the fires that have swept across Southern California since Thursday.<\/p>\n

Early last Friday, fire consumed most of the complex where the monks had chanted, studied the stars and welcomed guests from around the world. The next afternoon, they returned to survey the damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very quiet,\u201d Brother Joseph Brown recalled in a telephone interview Tuesday. \u201cWe just looked around. We were in shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time the Tea Fire, in Santa Barbara County, was under control, all that remained of the 60-year-old monastery itself were a skeletal archway, a charred iron cross and a large Angelus bell.<\/p>\n

Two small artist\u2019s studios near the main building were intact. An icon of Christ that Brother Brown had been painting with pigments made from egg yolk and mineral powder was still on a desk. A cello sat a few feet away, unharmed. In the chaos of wind and fire, a sheriff\u2019s deputy had moved another monk\u2019s telescope outside, where it remained unscathed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the midst of all this destruction,\u201d Brother Brown, 46, said Tuesday, \u201cmiracles happened all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feelings right now are difficult to describe,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the hazards of monasticism throughout the centuries is we become attached to what we have or where we are. This is simply a reminder that what we are called to is not our stuff. This is a cleansing by fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the fire, the monks have stayed at St. Mary\u2019s Retreat House, run by Episcopal nuns near the Santa Barbara Mission, as they searched for solace and prepared themselves to help others in the area who were displaced by the blaze.<\/p>\n

Brother Brown said the monks, part of the Order of the Holy Cross, spent much of Tuesday meeting with an insurance agent and a contractor to discuss their options. Though the coastal mountains of Montecito were dear to their hearts, he said, they \u201cneed time to pray and discern\u201d whether to rebuild there, and if so, how to go about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re like, \u2018Hmm, how do we get a hold of Oprah?\u2019 \u201d he added, speaking of another famous Montecito property owner, Oprah Winfrey, who was not there during the fire but who said on her show last week that she had made a plan to send her staff and dogs to stay at a nearby resort, and that her home was safe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Continue reading for more<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Photo: The Mount Calvary Monastery and Retreat House, Montecito, California. Photo by Reed Saxon\/AP<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the treasures lost to the California fires was a Benedictine monastery. And the New York Times this morning sizes up the aftermath: On Tuesday the monks met with their insurance agent. Like thousands of other residents of Southern California, the seven Benedictine Anglican monks who lived at Mount Calvary Monastery and Retreat House,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\n"We just looked around. 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